On Thursday, March 6, the no. 1 ranked varsity boys basketball team defeated no. 55 Kalamazoo Central in the Division One Regional Final game.
According to MaxPreps, the boy’s basketball team is currently ranked no. 1 in the state with a 25-1 record. After falling short in the state quarterfinals last year and missing the chance to play at the Breslin Center, they have fought tirelessly this season to reach the finals.
At the end of the first quarter, the Trojans were up with a two-point lead, 13-11, while they still were trying to gain their footing. By the end of the second quarter, the Trojans gained a higher lead with the score of 32-22.
Cameron Essell (12) felt that in the second quarter, him and his teammates were able to make a change for the better.
“Second quarter we started to click offensively,” Essell said. “We just started to make shots and were not playing scared.”
The intensity increased as the crowd erupted with chants, hoping to throw off the opposing teams. At times, it felt like the student sections were competing harder than the players on the court. Throughout the game, the two groups exchanged chants. When a Kalamazoo player was dunked on, the East Lansing student section shouted, “He’s a baby,” to which Kalamazoo’s student section fired back, “He’s a junior.” Later, the Kalamazoo Central student section shouted, “What’s a Trojan?” only for East Lansing’s students to fire back with a confident “Scoreboard,” as they held a commanding lead.
As the buzzer went off to signal the end of halftime, the two teams ran back out to the court with the sound of friends, family, and opposing supporters cheering and booing. Then, they started their warm-ups to prepare for the next half of the game.
Essell was motivated by the words that his coach shared with him during his halftime speech. He felt the team took those words to heart and felt inspired to push harder.
“He talked about how we need to pull away and that we do not want this to be a close game,” Essell said. “That we needed to come out, defend, and be aggressive”
As the tip-off happened there was a shift in energy for the Trojans, within the last 40 seconds of the quarter East Lansing advanced by six additional points, ending the third quarter doubling their first-half total while Kalamazoo only scored six points in total during this quarter bringing the score to 64-28. As the beginning of the fourth quarter rolled around, most of the Kalamazoo Central student section emptied. By the end of the game, the Trojans defeated Kalamazoo Central with a score of 77-42.
“Near the end of the game we started getting a lot of dunks,” Essell said. “The crowd was getting really loud.”
After the game, the Trojans were awarded a trophy for their regional title victory. The student section then rushed onto the court to join the celebration, cheering and jumping with excitement alongside the team.
On Tuesday, March 11 the boys took on Ann Arbor Huron at Mason High School and won 72-49. The Trojans will now take on Saint Mary’s Preparatory at the Breslin Center on Friday, March 14 at noon. If they win that game then they will advance to the Championship round on Saturday, March 15 at 12:15 p.m. which will also take place at the Breslin Center.
